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How will you celebrate the Fourth?

How are you celebrating freedom this Fourth of July? Having a cookout with neighbors? Watching fireworks with your family? Lighting up with friends?

For millions of Americans who consume cannabis, that freedom may be fleeting. In many states, Americans are still threatened with arrest, criminal prosecution, and jail time for marijuana possession. First-time offenders in states like Arizona and Florida may even face felony charges for small possession charges. In Oklahoma, growing even a single plant is punishable by up to life in prison.

At NORML we understand that this harsh reality is probably not something that you think about every single day, let alone on a holiday. But, we do, and it’s why we’re working hard to empower NORML’s national network of engaged citizens — citizens like you — to change America’s outdated and overly punitive marijuana laws. And, because of good folks like you, we are winning!

It is the highest ideal of American democracy that our nation has a well-informed and politically engaged electorate. That is why every week through our blog, social networks, and newsletter, NORML arms our supporters with the latest science, news, legislative and legal developments pertaining to cannabis and cannabis policy. Via the NORML Action Center, we keep you up to date on and engaged in all state and federal legislative efforts to end marijuana prohibition and restore our freedoms. Thanks to the 200,000+ of you who have taken action over the past few months!

Now, more than ever, it is crucial that we come together and assert our authority over our elected officials. The Declaration of Independence explicitly states: That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

In sum, it is our responsibility to compel our elected officials to institute change.

Our system of government is not perfect. In fact, it is far from it. But for hundreds of years, citizens have organized and struggled to come closer to Thomas Jefferson’s iconic aspiration, “That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson legally grew cannabis. You should be able to as well.